Great morning out at the 40ft with the gang, getting a swim in for @awareireland

(link in bio if you feel like donating a few euro 🙏🏻) ...

With 2 decades of coaching and over 3 of being involved in organised sports, one thing I have learned to be wary of is talking in absolutes BUT I have undoubtedly seen one strategy that leads to nothing but frustration (and injuries) in that time.

The Black and White / All or Nothing approach.

You may have been a victim of this cycle or still stuck there...

Missing a workout early in the week and then writing the rest of the week off…

‘Falling off the wagon’ with one meal and then deciding to go on a binge afterwards…

Ahead of a looming deadline, deciding to up your training volume and intensity significantly only to fall victim to an injury or burn out (and then repeat the cycle)…

Seeing you have a busy schedule and wondering if there is any point in only getting one or two workouts per week, until the diary clears up (or if it clears up)…

Waiting for a set of perfect circumstances to begin something…

…

As I age, I see that true progress happens in navigating the chaos and the in-between pieces. I found this out ironically, long after I tattooed my body boasting that I think only in absolutes (a posh love hate tattoo essentially 🤷🏼‍♂️).

5 sessions per week are better than 4, 4 are better than 3, 3 are better than 2 and so on.

One ‘bad’ meal (I hate even using that terminology) does not cause a plan to be derailed, or body composition to fall apart - it is the hundreds of decisions before that.

If your default approach is to view things in absolutes, life will be a struggle, progress will be fortuitous.

I still laugh - and get mildly frustrated, when I look back at the pandemic and realise I made some of my best progress physically in that time - learning to be at peace with changing environments and focusing on the small almost inconceivable wins and stacking them up.

Perfection is the enemy of progress. Learn to be patient, and understand that progress is rarely a linear path.

Setbacks are inevitable, aiming to be mature and navigate these as best you can with the current tools you have, is key to success over time. ...

I keep saying it but I’ll say it again… Training needs to create a stress response in order to elicit an adaptation.

Obviously context is important but scaling or watering down training to the point of it becoming sterile, does no one any good.

The mantra should not be ‘do no harm’ but ‘do a little bit of harm’, ideally every day. ...

🚨 Erg Technique 🚨

In our erg technique class yesterday we broke down the drive and the recovery of the row and looked more at the recovery…

Returning to the catch position in the right sequence (arms / body / legs) sets us up for a strong drive as we end up in the strongest and most efficient position to go again.

Much like lifting a barbell, if our set up or start position is less than optimal, we will spend a good portion of the rep out of sequence and trying to correct things along the way.

Using drills to program correct positions and movement patterns under lower intensities is key to improving and the 5:30 class here every Tuesday is ideal for that. ...

Checkpoints… ‘getting to know the landscape of a time trial’ - Big Al ...

12th birthday 🎂 🎉

Our first proper birthday celebration since the world ended 🥴 (and the hangovers have probably just subsided!)

Party kicks off in the gym around 3pm on the 19th. It would be great to see everyone and old members to drop in too.

There will be food, drink, games but feel free to bring more 🤣 ...

Advanced basics.

We have a new ‘Erg Technique’ session on the timetable every Tuesday at 17:30

This is not only a great introduction to the ergs (how the machine works and learning optimal technique for your body type) but also a chance to go over some of the finer details for folks that are more familiar with the machines. ...

12 years ago today I signed a lease on a building.

Just for 1 year, and when I say ‘signed’, it was more of a handshake. I thought I’d move on by the end of those 12 months…

A building I didn’t think much of. A business name I didn’t think much of but it was just to get me going until I decided on something more suitable. With absolutely fuck all money in my pocket.

Still fumbling forward. 12 years in (20 in the industry) and still doing the majority of the coaching here day to day.

Genuinely, if I (played and) won the lottery, I’d just buy a bigger gym. ...

We are big proponents of aerobic work here and although the long, slow distance work is unpopular in the impatient world of social media, it provides the foundation for all types of fitness and expression of that fitness.

In the past decade, the pendulum has swung far in the direction of HIIT training and tabata intervals. There is still plenty of validity to this type of training but it should be used sparingly or in smaller windows of concentrated time.

One of the big benefits of anaerobic work or ‘pain’ work in the @opexfitness vernacular - is that it can be utilised for an aerobic boost. This is something that I was mentioning recently to a long distance runner that came in for an assessment…

High intensity work can help when it comes to encountering any small perturbations in an aerobic testing scenario - this may be any unforeseen impediment in a race - an unanticipated hill, uneven terrain, equipment malfunctions, a fall, rolling an ankle, adverse weather conditions etc.

It builds up resiliency and mental fortitude through prolonged exposure to discomfort. Implementing some of these workouts can be beneficial for someone that does not respond well to these perturbations in operations and can also be a helpful booster for people in sport or job-specific environments where stress is high.

Personally I would include myself in the former category and found these workouts useful for their slight touch of adrenaline dump akin to a competition scenario, and getting more used to that psychological and physiological response.

High intensity work is NOT a substitute for the long steady state work when it comes to building aerobic fitness but again, it can help prepare for unforeseen circumstances that will inevitably occur along the way.

It is also worth noting that some folks may become ‘addicted’ to this type of training if not programmed correctly as it provides a dopamine response and ‘numbs pain’ to some degree.

It is worth repeating, lots of sweat does not equal an effective workout and if you are training unsustainability, you need to have good behaviours (nutrition, sleep, stress management) wrapped around this. ...